Madison times., 1887-01-01
"ON TRIAL"
Or. TALMAGE'S SUNDAY MORN
ING DISCOURSE.
God Save the World From the
Gossip, Female and Male.
"GrieVe Not the Holy Ghost -Quench Not
the Spirit"-DO Not Begin to
Tremble at the Thought Of
Condemnation.

BROOKLYN, Dec. 19.-The Rev. T. Dewitt
falmage, d. D., preached to-day in the Brook
Ign tabernacle on the subject: ION Trial
Taking for his text / John ii, 9: I've have a
1lyocate with the Father, Jesus Christ tn
tghteous," he says:
Standing In court room you say TO your
Self: ''At this bar crime has often been al
raigned; at this witness stand the oath ha
often been taken; at this jurors bench tn
verdict has been rendered, at this judges desl
sentence has been pronounced" But hav
to tell you to-day OF a trial higher than an,
Oyer and Termner, or Circuit, or Supreme, o
Chancery. 1t is the trial Of every Christian
man for the life Of his soul This trial is diff
ferent from any other in the fact that 1t |:
both civil and criminal The issues at stake
are tremendous, and / shall in my sermon
show you, first what are the grounds Of COM
plant; then who are the witnesses in the
cause, and lastly, who are the advocates.
When trial is called on, the first thing Il
to have an Indictment read. Stand up then
o Christian man, and hear the indictment OF
the court Of high heaven against the soul! II
is an indictment of ten counts, for thou hast
directly or Indirectly broken all the ten COM
mandments You know how it thundered on
Sinai, and when God came down how the
mountain rocked, and the smoke assembled
as from a smouldering furnace, and the dark
ness gathered thick, and the loud deep trum-
pet uttered the words: THE soul that sinneth,
IT shall diel'' Are you guilty or not guilty.
Do not put in a negative plea too quick for /
have TO announce that "all have sinned and
come short Of the glory of God. There is
none that doeth good; no, not one. Whose
ever shall keep the whole law, yet offend in
one point, he is guilty of all" Do not. there
fore, be too hasty in pronouncing yourself not
not guilty.
The lawsuit before us also charges you with
the breaking Of a solemn contract Many a
time did We promise to be the Lords. We
got down on our knees and said: 20 Lord,
am Thine now and forever" Did you keep the
promisei Have you stood up to the contractl
go back to your first communion. You re-
member 1t as well as II 1t were yesterday. You
remember how the vision of the cross rose up
before you You remember how from the
head, and the hands, and the side, and the
teet there came bleeding forth these two
words: Remember mer' You recall how the
cup OF communion trembled in your hand
when you first took 1t; and as a sea shell you
may hear, or think you hear, the roaring Of
the surf even after the shell had been taken
from the beach, so you lifted the cup of COM
munion, and you heard In it the surging of the
great ocean Of q Savior's agony; and you
came forth from that communion service with
face shining as though you had been on the
Mos1Ut ~ Trape
seemed tremulous with the love of Jesus, and
the very woods, and the leaves, and the grass,
and the birds were brighter and sweeter- voiced
than ever before, and you said down in the
very depths Of your soul: lord, Thou know
est all things; Thou knowest that / love
Thee" Have you kept the bargain, o Chris
tian mani Have you not sometime faltered
when you ought TO have been true! Have you
not been proud when you ought to have been
number Have you not played the coward
when you ought to have been the heroi /
charge 1t upon you, and charge it upon my
3eif-we have broken the contract
still turther' this lawsuit claims damages
at your hands. The greatest slander on the
Christian religion is an inconsistent professor.
The Bible says religion is one thing: we bv
our Inconsistency say religion is some other
thing, and what is more deplorable about it is,
that people can see faults in others while they
cannot see any In themselves IL you shall at
any time find some miserable old gossip, with
imperfections from the crown Of her head to
the sole OF her foot perfect blotch of sin
herself, she will go tattliDg, tattling, tattling
all the years Of her life, about the inconsis-
tency OF others. having no idea that she is in
consistent herself. God save the world from
gossip, female and malei think the males
are the worst Now the chariot of Chrlst's
salvation goes on through the world; but it is
cur inconsistencies, my brethren, that block
up the wheels, while all along the line there
ought to have cast nothing but palm branches,
and the shout should have been lifted:
"Hosanna to the son of Dayid.n
Now you have heard the indictment read
Are You ready to plead guilty or not gultyl
phernsPs ,h , you are not ready yet to plead. Then
called, and we shall have the matter decided.
In the name OF God now make proclama-
tion: "Oyez! Oyezl Oyezl Whosoever
hath anything to offer in this trial in which
Tod Is the plaintiff and the Christian soul the
nefendant, let hun now step forth and give
testimony In this solemn traln
The first witness that call upon the stand
In behalf OF the prosecution. is the world-aI
critical and observant OF Christian character.
lou know that there are people around You |
VINO perpetualy banquet on the frailties of |
God's children. You may know, If you have |
nved In the country, that crow cares for moth. |
teS oo hiutu us CdTTlOu. lleTt are those who |
Imagine that out Of the faults Of Christians |
they can make a bridge OF boats across the |
stream OF death, and they are going to try it:
but, alas, for the mistake! When they get |
amid stream away will 90 the bridge and |
uown Will go their aoul TO perdition OWorld |
pf the greedy eye and the hard heart, come on |
the stand now and testify in behalf of the |
prosecution against this Christian soul on trial.
what do you know about this Christian mani |
'Oh, saws the World, II know a great deal |
about him. He talks about putting his |
treasures In heaven. but he is the sharpest |
man In trade l ever knew. He seems to
want us to believe that he is a child of God.
but he is Just full of imperfections. / do NOT
Know but am great deal better than he is
now. Oftentimes he is very earthly, and he |
talks so little about Christ aud so much about |
himself, am very glad to testify that this is
Stop, o World with the greedy eve and the |
hard heart fear you are too much interest |
ed In this trial 10 give impartial evidence |
Let all those who hear the testimony of this |
witness know that there is an old family quar- |
rel between these two parties. There ALWAYS |
las been variance between the World and |
he Church, and while the World ON the wit |
'hess stand to-day has told a great deal of |
truth about this Christian man, you must take |
y all with some allowance, remembering that /
they still keep the old grudge good. OWorld of |
the greedy eye and the hard heart, that will |
do. You may sit down.
The second witness call IN this case is Con-
science. Who art thou o Consciencel What /
Is your businessi Where were YOU bornl !,
What are you doing herel 'Om saws Con-
science, 81 was born in heaven. came down
to befriend this man. have lived with him.
have Instructed him. 1 have warned hIm.
showed him the right and the wrong, |
advising him 70 take the one and eschew the /
1ther. have kfndled q great light In his |
'oul- With whip Of scorpions have scourg-